Clutching at straws: using tangible interaction to provide non-visual access to graphs

McGookin, D., Robertson, E. and Brewster, S.A. (2010) Clutching at straws: using tangible interaction to provide non-visual access to graphs. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA, 10-15 Apr 2010, (doi: 10.1145/1753326.1753583)

Abstract

We present a tangible user interface (TUI) called Tangible Graph Builder, that has been designed to allow visually impaired users to access graph and chart-based data. We describe the current paper-based materials used to allow independent graph construction and browsing, before discussing how researchers have applied virtual haptic and non-speech audio techniques to provide more flexible access. We discuss why, although these technologies overcome many of the problems of non-visual graph access, they also introduce new issues and why the application of TUIs is important. An evaluation of Tangible Graph Builder with 12 participants (8 sight deprived, 4 blind) revealed key design requirements for non-visual TUIs, including phicon design and handling marker detection failure. We finish by presenting future work and improvements to our system.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McGookin, Dr David and Brewster, Professor Stephen
• Authors: McGookin, D., Robertson, E., and Brewster, S.A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Publisher: ACM Press, Addison-Wesley